Durgapur, Aug. 28: Eleven-year-old Daya Das was murdered by a 13-year-old classmate following a row over cheating in a game, police said today.

Manoj Lohar then buried his friend in the sandy bank of the Damodar. The police today recovered Daya’s decomposed body from near Damra village at Kalipahari of Asansol.

Daya and Manoj, Class-III students in a local school, had quarrelled two months ago, the police said. Manoj accused Daya of cheating and threatened to take revenge. They never spoke to each other after that.

Manoj went to Daya’s house on Sunday. The children then went for a walk. Daya never returned home.

His father, Gobinda Das, lodged an FIR at South Asansol police station, complaining that his son was missing. In course of the investigation, the police came to know that Daya was last seen riding a cycle with Manoj and going towards the Damodar.

Manoj was detained on Monday. He broke down in the face of sustained interrogation, the police said.

“He confessed that he had killed Daya to take revenge and took the help of another friend,” said Debajyoti Saha, the officer-in-charge of south Asansol.

According to police, on reaching the river bank, Manoj offered Daya a cigarette, which he initially refused. “Not to make him suspicious about his motive, Manoj had brought along the other classmate. The cigarette was spiked with marijuana and Daya soon became intoxicated. His friends hit Daya with a blunt weapon and then strangled him. They buried the body under the sand and came back,” the officer said.